Caffeine enhances sustained attention among adolescents.

Despite the growing interest in caffeine use and its effects among adolescents, and a large literature on caffeine and attention among adults, there is a lack of experimental work examining the impact of caffeine on sustained attention among adolescents. We evaluated the acute effects of caffeine (vs. placebo) during a long (33-min) classic vigilance task among 31 adolescents (aged 12-17; 15 female; median caffeine use = 28 mg/day). We predicted a dose-dependent effect of caffeine, which would attenuate declines in target detection over time (i.e., a vigilance decrement). In each of 3 visits, participants completed an identical pairs continuous performance task beginning ∼25 min after consumption of noncaloric flavored water containing placebo, 1 mg/kg, or 3 mg/kg caffeine (order counterbalanced). Percent hits for low probability targets across 12 100-trial blocks was the primary outcome measure. As predicted, the linear decline in hits across trial blocks was attenuated by caffeine (Caffeine vs. Placebo × Block Linear,